A JOLLY OLD CROW 185 



dantly able to look out for themselves. When 

 no one was watching they would alight in a 

 barn lot or orchard, while one of their number 

 kept watch in some commanding position. At 

 the least suspicious sign he would give the 

 alarm and the whole flock would slip away be- 

 fore a man or a boy could get within gunshot. 

 The Naturalist never worried on their ac- 

 count, for he felt very sure that no matter how 

 many boys and guns were watching for them, 

 there would be no apparent diminution of 

 their numbers. 



The poor crow is almost universally dis- 

 trusted. In the wooded regions he is in disre- 

 pute because of his habit of pulling up sprout- 

 ing grain. Some also accuse him of injury to 

 melons, and a scarecrow of some kind is a com- 

 mon sight in the small fields. In Iowa he is 

 maligned as an egg-sucker and accused of 

 catching the young poultry. In the Missis- 

 sippi valley the grain fields are so extensive 

 that the small amount of grain which he de- 

 stroys is seldom missed. The fact is that he 

 is guilty of all the counts in the indictment, but 

 "catching comes before hanging," and the 

 crow has learned how to avoid the numerous 

 pitfalls designed for his undoing. 



